Community Foundation Santa Cruz County invests $1 million in small farm businesses

The Community Foundation Santa Cruz County has decided to invest $1 million dollars into small farms on the Central Coast.

They are giving this money to the organization Farmlink which helps small farmers get started on their business and funding.

Owner of JSM Organics, Javier Zamora, says Farmlink helped him get where he is today, “This is a definite organization that sees you as a person with a passion rather than just a number or a credit score.”

Zamora’s business has grown from one and a half acres, to 130.

“they were the first ones that believed in what I was doing. They lend me ten thousand dollars six years ago, now we have a lot of acreage and employ a lot of people in the area and feed thousands of people out of the farm.”

He isn’t the only one they have helped, owner of Fruitilicious Farm, Zea Sonnabend, says Farmlink helped her get a new well system after hers failed.

Sonnabend says as a small farmer it’s much harder to get a regular bank loan, “I have not been as successful getting bank loans as a small farmer in this area who, when you own land but with no house on it we don’t get eligible for most bank loans.”

Community Foundation Santa Cruz County officials say this investment is one way they are investing in the community.

“It’s important to us because we have choices in where we invest our money but we know that farmers here have a hard time accessing capital to grow their businesses to build sustainable farming businesses,” says Susan True.

Farmlink says with this additional $1 million dollars brings their available loans for farmers up to $6 million.

Executive Director of Farmlink, Reggie Knox, says that money will go a long way,

“Our average loan size is about 45-50 thousand dollars now so most of our loans are annual operating loans that help farmers with things like fuel, seed, transplant and labor costs. One of our trademarks is really flexibly structuring the loan so you don’t have to pay it back in the beginning you can pay it back as the crops come in,” says Knox.

For more information on Farmlink and how to apply for a loan you can visit their website www.cafarmlink.org or call them at (831)425-0303.